Yesterday morning, as I was leaving for work, I saw an enormous hawk take off from the top of one of the ice-damaged trees. It made a loud sound, probably because the ice-cracked branch snapped apart and together with the release of the weight. Seeing a hawk on my birthday must mean something positive, but I'm not sure what.

It wasn't a birthday in the usual (party-like) sense, because Denise's mom had a health problem and Denise had to drive her to the hospital and didn't get back until midnight. Her mom is doing ok today, but is undergoing tests to see what happened. If I live to be 92, I want to be more like Granny D than like the typical elder in America, tied to a broken health care system with chains made of either money or poverty.

Today, when I went out to feed the birds, there were so many, and they were singing so insistently in the grey mist, that I went back in and got my sound recorder. Before I could turn it on, a flock of geese flew overhead, honking loudly, then, the most amazing thing of all... a brown owl flew silently past about 3 feet from me. I don't know what led this magificent bird to be hunting in daylight, but once again I felt honored to be visited by such a creature. Standing perfectly still and holding the recorder in cupped hands in front of me, I got a few minutes of assorted chirps, songs and woodpecker pecks recorded. It might get worked into a video later.